Tammy Verses the Cat Beast
by GDeNofa
Summary: What if a human from our world and present time was confronted by a Cat Beast?


_(Cat Beast and Stitch-Punks characters belong to the great Shane Acker and Focus Features.)_

* * *

"Doctor, Lucy got out of the carrier," cried out the cat's owner. "She's really scared and I can't coax Lucy back in!"

The veterinarian bent over the frazzled tabby, giving out gentle hand gestures. But the cat was too distressed and hid under the reception desk. The secretary went to pick the feline up, but the cat began to swat and yowl loudly. Everyone backed away; even Lucy's owner.

"Where is she?" asked the veterinarian to the secretary.

"In the second room, I'll page her now."

Within a couple of minutes, a woman came over and asked where the loose cat was. The secretary pointed to the animal's hiding spot and the pretty veterinary technician knelt down besides Lucy.

The cat was ready to bolt, so the woman quickly but gently put her hand over the back of the cat's scruff. Lucy began to hiss but couldn't run off.

The vet tech blew a few, loose hair strands from her eyes while she pet and spoke to the frightened feline, "Shh, it's okay, little Lucy, you're safe here. No one's gonna harm you."

Everyone at the clinic held their breath, in fear the animal would not respond. But tensions lessened as the cat began to lose her anxiety and settle down a little.

In a few minutes, the vet tech was able to pick Lucy up and place the animal safely back in her carrier.

"Here you go," said the woman as she handed the carrier over to the cat's grateful owner.

"Good job, Tammy," remarked the veterinarian, smiling in complete relief.

* * *

Tammy got home from the Veterinary clinic early morning, due to two emergencies that night for the other vet techs were off on their night shift. She walked past her bedroom and peered through the opened door and sighed. She just moved into her new apartment and still needed to unpack many boxes. The woman didn't have time to getting around to it but managed to take out the large, standing dresser mirror. That was one of her treasures since it belonged to her Grandfather.

It has been over a year since Tammy's Grandfather past away. She was quite close to him growing up. He showed her how to tweak with the clocks in his shop and even performed magic tricks for her and hospital residents. The elder often joshed about performing real magic and that his items were enchanted; including this old mirror.

Tammy laughed lightly to herself, shaking her head over her silly but loving old Granddad and went in the pallor.

The tired woman practically dropped into the sofa. She didn't even bother to take off her clinic smock. Her cell phone beeped that she got another voice mail. She sat up and read that she had nine messages.

"There are so many," she said out loud with another sigh, rubbing her partly tied, brown hair.

But it wasn't the messages themselves the woman referred too.

Tammy helped a local pet rescue. She often received pleas like someone finds an injured stray and needs help, or a litter of timid kittens need her TLC. The woman was quite good with animals, particularly cats. The organization often asked for her help because she could help medically, as well as she could often gain the animals trust in order to help the rescue save the homeless felines from the lonely, cold world. Hence why she liked her new apartment. The landlord was a kind old soul and gave permission to have pets.

But the woman wanted to finish unpacking first.

_Once I am finally settled, I'm adopting,_ she reminded herself.

Tammy was about to start listening to the messages until she saw an eerie light coming from the bedroom. She put her cell phone down, quite baffled.

_The lights are off. What is that?_

Tammy got off the couch and walked into the bedroom. She gasped.

The woman stood motionless. Her Grandfather's dresser mirror was the thing that was glowing. The mirror's glass was swirling green and appeared to be some kind of hole. But in reality, it was a portal to another parallel world.

The reason for Tammy's gasp was the pair of little people or what she thought at first might be leprechauns or sprites. But she looked harder and saw that they appeared to be handmade burlap dolls.

_Are these… real?_

The Stitch-Punk dolls kept glancing back at the mirror while holding up items which appeared to be little weapons.

The woman wondered at them_. Are they waiting for something? They look so scared.  
_  
Suddenly, something jumped out of the vortex. It was cat-like, but nothing Tammy had ever seen in her past five years as a veterinary technician.

_My God!_

The creature consisted of feline bones, metal and hardware, with blades coming out of its back and near its left searchlight optic. Its head was a cat skull. It made a loud, screechy roar as it charged at the stitch covered, little beings.

The bigger doll tried confronting the Cat Beast with a long, little staff but to no avail. The creature was brutal and swiped the doll to the floor, head first. The disoriented doll began to run and go in one of the boxes. The Cat Beast rushed to the box and began pawing for the frantic doll with its sharp, rusty, metal talons; its searchlight eye, brightly lit in search of its target hidden beneath the clothes.

The smaller, but faster doll, managed to climb on top of the boxes and with a long knifed weapon, managed to topple the heavier packages right on the beast. This gave a short reprieve for the doll to help the bigger one out of the box and rush to the mirror.

Tammy still could not believe what she was witnessing. Finally she managed to speak to the tiny beings, "What... Is… What is going on?"

The Stitch-Punks turned around and looked up at the bewildered woman. They showed a brief amazement to see a living human, but they quickly regained the priority on their aggressive purser.

"This beast has hunted us despite our efforts of stopping it," the smaller one called out. "It must not follow us."

The doll's taller companion nodded in agreement with small, metal hands fidgeting the collected little staff. "Please... Help us…"

Tammy was utterly amazed that these dolls actually replied back to her. She saw the anxious plea in their oddly, expressive, glass lens eyes and without a word or thinking, she nodded. Both of them gave a thankful smile in full gratitude, and the Stitch-Punks ran through the glowing vortex.

Quickly, Tammy rushed to one of her packing boxes and pulled out a paperweight. She then heard growling, and saw that the dexterous Cat Beast had freed itself from the fallen containers. It spotted its prey going back to their parallel world and began to head in that direction.

The woman reluctantly made the decision to throw the paper weight at her beloved Grandfather's mirror and not at the bizarre, fast creature, as she was afraid her throw wouldn't be as quick.

Just as the Cat Beast was about to spring into the portal, Tammy made her mark. The beast came to a halt and quickly leapt back as the broken mirror fell to the floor. The portal waned off as soon as the mirror shattered into countless pieces.

Tammy watched the metallic creature examining the shards.

_Okay… I helped those dolls, now, who's gonna help me?_

The Cat Beast slowly stared up. Its right, red optic glowed brightly, glaring directly in the eyes of this giant who made it impossible for it to finish its mission with capturing the Stitch-Punks and retaining their Talisman. It was trapped forever in this other world and it was livid!

Frustrated, the beast snarled at Tammy. She stood frozen, wide-eyed and swallowed nervously (for good reason).

_Oh... shit._

The Cat Beast was in an absolute rage. Its focus now was vengeance... on Tammy. Growling, it began to close in on the poor woman. Tammy's hands desperately fumbled anything she could reach to toss at the mechanical monster: books, a lamp, figurines, even a full box as she backed out of the room. The Cat Beast blocked and dodged every item with simian strength and agility.

Tammy shut the door, but the creature was very swift and rushed past, right before the door slammed.

"It really IS like a cat!" the frantic woman thought out loud.

The Cat Beast got into a crouch position and jumped, aiming straight at her. With a last resort, she grabbed a chair cushion and held it up to shield herself from the attack. The creature's claws and fork feet penetrated the thick pad like knives cutting into butter.

While its talons were deep in the fabric, Tammy now had the courage to quickly swerve her hand over the Cat Beast's forelegs and grab them together. Then she did the same thing with the hind legs with her other hand. The ripped cushion came off the beast's claws as its hanging, artificial torso swayed wildly; trying to free itself from this giant's grasp.

Tammy held the bellowing beast with her arms straight out, straining to avoid it's snapping, canine teeth. Two, long hooked metal ware, loosened from struggling in the cushion, flung out of the creature's left claws, stabbing the wall. They missed the woman's cheek; just barely.

"H-How do I stop you?!" she screamed at the malevolent monstrosity. "Don't ya have an off switch or something?!"

The lights were off in the room and Tammy really had her hands full. So she went towards the window with the struggling Cat Beast to use the day light to see if there was a measure of stopping the creature. But she couldn't locate any kind of 'off switch' to shut it down.

While standing by the window, the woman noticed the disposition of the beast had suddenly changed. It was peering down at the window, just realizing how high Tammy's apartment was: five stories down. It averted its red lit eye off the view, and began to struggle again as its roaring was replaced with a sort of loud, desperate wail…

"You're scared… of falling?" Tammy asked with a slight amount of empathy in her tone.

The Cat Beast continued to flex everything; desperate to get free before this giant makes it plunge to its end.

At first, the fearful woman saw the creature as nothing more than a cold, predatory monster. However, being this close and seeing this… monster displaying emotions, the Cat Beast strangely resembled a feline in distress; like little Lucy. Albeit, it was unsightly and frightening, but it was frightened itself. Strangely, Tammy's desire of helping animals began to come in strong; regardless of how completely unorthodox this situation truly was.

She continued to hold the beast's bony and metal limbs as she walked from the window and towards the sofa. Now that the fear of falling to its doom was gone, the creature began to growl again. The woman sat down and slowly put the hissing Cat Beast next to her. She managed to put her hand over the upper rim of its metallic back as she would to hold the scruff of a cat. She blew some hair strands from her eyes as she pushed with great effort so the beast was crouching down.

The woman took a deep breath and cautiously placed her other hand on the back of its flinching head. It tried to lash out and bite, but the Cat Beast could neither scratch nor snap because of the vet tech's experienced grip. She began moving her hand in a stroking motion, down to the neck area.

The Cat Beast paused and emitted a quizzical gruff while its optics blinked and flickered in surprise from the woman's stroking. It resumed growling but stopped jerking its movements.

"So, ya felt that," said Tammy, softly. "It's okay… little beastie. You're safe here. I… I won't harm you."

The woman gingerly rubbed the creature's top back, her slender fingers going around the impaled spikes. Within moments, its growling was waning.

The Cat Beasts were the first creations of the Fabrication Machine, a turned-evil, robotic orb from another world. The beasts were programmed to be quite predatory and animalistic; to respond like the animal they were designed after.

But this Cat Beast's mission to capture the Stitch Punks and it's vengeance with Tammy began to dissipate quickly, for this giant's gentle voice and petting were comforting. Comfort: something the creature had never experienced. It was so use to being shrieked at, prodded with weapons and other harsh things back in its post-apocalyptic universe. Kindness was completely new to this creature and it was intrigued... Just like a feline would be.

The beast became silent and still. Tammy worried at its abrupt quietness.

_It stopped. Did… Did I break it?_

Still gripping, the woman took her free hand and lightly scratched its spine and pelvic. It was then, that the Cat Beast half-closed its right eye while its speaker began to emit a steady, rumbling sound in a repeated rhythm. It was flexing its front claws in a slow, continuous pattern… a contented instinct that had been unused for its entire life cycle; till now.

Tammy took notice of this right away and smiled. "Wow, you're purring and kneading."

The stroking had fully over-ride the Cat Beast's instincts of defense. Its sensitive, sensory system felt absolutely wonderful, and its emotions converted into happiness, a first for its artificial, autonomous species.

The woman felt its relaxed body and felt confident enough to release her grip to turn a lamp on.

But the Cat Beast did not want this giant to stop this newfound, pleasing activity. The happy beast arched its metal back, pushing its bony spine into Tammy's hand to encourage her to continue the caressing.

When the hardware coated creature perched itself on the woman's lap, facing her, she leaned back, feeling a little uneasy. For thanks to the lamp's light, she could see every pointy part on the beast's structure. But when it tilted its head and made a short, gruff sound, Tammy felt reassured and smiled again.

_I guess that was a mew, then?_

Cautiously, she showed her hand to the Cat Beast. The creature's right, metal claws cradled and delicately directed Tammy's wrist to coax her to rub its felid skull with her palm.

"It's amazing how something so sharp, can be so gentle," remarked the woman, stroking the beast's face and back, doubling its contentment with the petting of both hands. "I guess ya just needed a chance, huh?"

The Cat Beast gruffed and purred as if it understood the question.

Tammy couldn't believe this was indeed, really happening, and that this creature was indeed, real (or as real as a manufactured mammal could be). She doubled wondered if she was asleep and this was all just some sort of crazy dream, induced by the expired mango yogurt that the vet-tech ate during her night shift. But her crazy dream's kneading gave her legs a pinch; which recapped her that this was a reality, regardless on the weirdness.

Tammy carefully scooped up the relaxed, robotic animal. Its motorized purring was so loud now, that the vibrations went through the woman's arms.

She cocked her head and the creature copycat the woman's action as she made her inquiry…

"So... little beastie, what now?"

* * *

Month later, the stalking Cat Beast was in predation mode. Stealthy, it turned the corner and spotted the small figure only two yards away. It lowered its metal torso to the ground while emitting small gruffs and twitching its claws in full anticipation.

Then, the creature sprung. Within moments, the target was in its bony jaws. The beast tossed its prey in the air and swiped the limp figure across from it. The Cat Beast attacked again, biting and using its kicking hind fork feet to interrogate its helpless victim.

Suddenly, something caught the beast's attention. It put the subdued target between its fangs and went to inspect.

Tammy came home from work, carrying bags. The woman placed them on the kitchen table and almost tripped on something. By her legs was...

"Diesel, you're so quiet." she said to the Cat Beast as she knelt down to be at his level. "I should install a bell on you."

Before Tammy, the robotic beast's movements clanked and creaked from the prolonged servitude in a parallel wasteland. She cleaned his skeletal, metallic frame and used lubricate spray to keep his gears and bolts in check. So now, the mechanical, cleansed creature's movements were almost inaudible.

The Cat Beast (now Diesel, titled from his booming purr simulating a diesel engine), proudly placed the offering at his giant's feet, circling her legs. Tammy picked up the ripping, burlap toy doll. Its limbs and head were hanging by a thread; literally.

In the other world, the Cat Beasts were programmed to capture the Stitch Punks. But the hunters were ordered to lessen the intensity of their predation in order to keep their quarry in one piece for the Fabrication Machine's own agenda. But for this contented creature, there was no more need to... hold back the kill drive.

The woman raised an eyebrow at the half stitched, dangling doll. "Ouch. I'm just glad this one wasn't alive," she remarked with the partly stuffed toy between her fingertips.

Tammy had to provide lots of prey-sized items to keep the hunter amused and to keep their home intact. Diesel found enjoyment attacking all the toys. But the beast's favorite play things are and always have been… the burlap ones.

The doll's head and one of its legs finally falls to the floor. Purring proudly, Diesel noticed this and it seemed to enhance his happy rumbling.

"Boy, little beastie," Tammy said to him, "this must be like the tenth toy you thrashed. Maybe ya need booties on those pointy footies of yours?"

Diesel didn't know what his giant was saying. But she accepted his gift, so he continued to purr with pride.

* * *

That evening, Tammy got herself take out from the local Asian restaurant and brought home another car battery for Diesel. The electronic creature had a small energy receiver under the speaker in his mouth, hence how he was able to absorb the energy as food.

Later, after a satisfying feeding charge, the creature went to find his giant.

Tammy was in bed, reading a book. She placed the novel down by the small bureau, turned her lamp off and settled down for the night. Her green eyes squinted when a small, bright light came towards her.

Tammy smiled and counted to herself, "Three... Two... One..."

Diesel the Cat Beast jumped on the bed. He lay beside Tammy and gruffed.

The woman petted him more easily since she unhinged his back blades (Diesel's rolling and upside down nap cycles expressed his approval), and she also smoothed his front talons with her Granddad's file. The comfortable creature's motorized purr resounded as he stretched and kneaded. That was another reason for the file... Tammy was tired of sewing and buying new blankets... repeatedly.

But regardless of the file, Diesel still had claws. Very curved claws. Before his searchlight optic dimmed off, Tammy's eyes glimpsed the large hole marks trailing up on one side of the wall. She almost forgot about this mistake and retold herself to touch up the wall before the landlord questions about the cavities.

She shook her head at the purring Cat Beast.

_O-o-okay... No more laser pointer for little beastie.  
_

The Cat Beast's hunting mode was very intense. One thing the woman came up with was taking Diesel out to discreet, unpopulated areas and letting the metal predator pursue and ambush a speedy (and very sturdy) R/C toy car… with a burlap mouse strapped on as an incentive. It was a challenge for Tammy with steering the tiny automobile out of the beast's reach, but watching him hunt made her just as entertained as Diesel was. His persistence and quickness astounded her.

Maintaining Diesel was far more work than working at the Veterinary clinic. But yet, the vet-tech never missed her previous life without the living, simulated animal.

Tammy rubbed the beast's sensitive chest and neck circuits as he curled himself by her. With the petting and full charge, Diesel was in sheer bliss. His original creator and purpose with hunting the Stitch Punks and locating the Talisman were gone from his memory drive; replaced with the luxurious life with a more appreciative master.

The woman looked over her newly adopted oddity. "Regardless on whatever you are or wherever you came from, a cat will always be a cat."

The sleepy Cat Beast slowly blinked his dimmed, red optic at his giant with admiration. With trust, Tammy placed her arm over him and fell asleep. Diesel slowly closed his eye and fell into deep sleep mode for another evening without a care in the world, or in any world.

* * *

_Author's Note: Yeah, I know there was only one Cat Beast in the movie/short but let's say the Fabrication Machine made a whole litter XD PM me if you'd like to see two cool illustrations done for this random fun short!_


End file.
